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AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 



SECOND REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE. 

FresenUd at the, Saint Louis Meeting of the National Educational Associa- 
tion, August ^3, 1871.] 



To the National Educational Association : x^^'^vi'a; 

For the reasons embraced in the records of the Asso- 
ciation for the year 1870, the Committee on an Ameri- 
can University confined their first report to a concise 
statement of the offices of a true University, and to a 
brief summary of the advantages to be derived from 
the establishment of such an institution in the midst of 
these States. 

Without re-opening the discussion upon these branch- 
es of the general subject, we deem it proper, in this 
connection, to remark, that the further consideration of 
them, with an extensive correspondence, eliciting the 
opinions of many of the most distinguished educators 
and statesmen of the country, has had the effect not 
only to strengthen our conviction of the correctness of 






2 An American University. 



the positions there taken, but also to satisfy us that any 
well devised scheme for the accomplishment of the 
object proposed will receive the cordial sympathy and 
support of the great majority of intelligent and liberal 
minded citizens. 

Your Committee are also gratified to be able to re- 
port a general concurrence, on the part of the eminent 
men who have expressed their views upon the subject, 
in those large and liberal ideas of university education 
which only are adequate to the growing and already 
pressing demands of our country and times. 

It was not deemed important in our first report, nor 
is it thought to be necessary in this, to mark the de- 
tails of what the institution should be. They are bet- 
ter left to the wisdom of those who shall be hereafter 
charged with that responsible duty. 

It may be proper, however, to state in general terms : 

1. That it should be broad enough to embrace every 
department of science, literature and the arts, and every 
real profession. 

2. That it should be high enough to supplement the 
highest existing institutions of the country, and to em- 
brace within its field of instruction the utmost limits of 
human knowledge. 

3. That, in the interest of truth and justice, it should 



Secoyid Report of the National Committee. 3 

guarantee eqaal privileges to all duly qualified appli 
cants for admission to its courses of instruction, and 
equal rights and the largest freedom to all earnest in J 
vestigators in that domain which lies outside the limits 
of acknowledged science. 

4. That it should be so constituted arid established 
as to command the hearty support of the American 
people, regardless of section, party or creed. 

5. Tliat its material resources should be vast enough 
to enable it not only to furnish — and that either freely 
or at nominal cost — the best instruction the world can 
afford, but also to provide tlie best known fiacilities for 
the work of scientific investigation, together with en- 
dowed fellowships and honorary fellowships, open 
respectively to the most meritorious graduates and to 
such investigators, wliether native or foreign, as, being 
candidates therefor, shall have distinguished them- 
selves most in the ndvancement of knowledge. 

6. That it should be so co-ordinated in plan with the 
other institutions of the country as not only in noway 
to conflict with them, but, on the contrary, to become at 
once a potent agency for their improvement and the 
means of creating a complete, harmonious and efficient 
system of American education. 

With this outline of a great and true University in 



•4 An American University. 

their minds, your Commtttee have not deemed it possi- 
■ble that the institution should be so established, endowed 
and maintained as to enable it to fulfill its mission ex- 
cept with the co-operation of the Citizen, the State, and 
the General Government. 

By means of such co-operation, it may be made na- 
tional in every important sense, and yet possess all that 
freedom from undue governmental authority necessary 
to insure to it a place in the confidence and affection of 
those who, being naturally opposed to a centralization 
of power, are inclined to deny to the General Govern- 
ment other- powers than those actually and explicitly 
j)res3ribed in the Constitution of the United States. 

The original endowment — which should not be less 
than the equivalent of ten millions of dollars, and 
which may properly consist of lands now embraced in 
the public domain — will need to be furnished by the 
Government, and Congress must therefore determine the 
general terms and conditions upon which the institu- 
tion shall be administered. But proper authorities in 
the several states may have a voice in its management, 
as well as in the nomination of candidates for admis- 
sion to its privileges ; and individual citizens and asso- 
ciations of citizens should be cordially invited to endow 
such departments of instruction, illustration, or investi- 



Second Report of the National Committee. 5 

gation, as shall most enlist their sympathies ; for how- 
ever large sucli original endowment, unless it should 
greatly exceed the necessities of the present time, sup- 
plementary endowments will be in demand, as a 
necessity of the ever-widening circle of human knowl- 
edge. 

If there De any friends of education who, desiring 
the end sought to be attained by the Association, never- 
theless regard the idea of a central University as novel, 
and to be entertained with caution, or who, in their 
extreme conservatism, are in some doubt as to the au- 
thorit}'- of Congress to endow and establish such an 
institution, they are respectfully referred — 

1. To the proceedings of the Federal Convention which 
framed the Constitution of the United States ; from 
which it appears that propositions by Me?srs. Madison, 
Pinckney and others to include the power "to estab- 
lish a University " among the prescribed powers of 
Congress were set aside solely on the ground that such 
specifications were " unnecessary/' since provisions 
already embraced in the Constitution, as well as the 
exclusive power of Congress at the seat of govern- 
ment, " would reach that object." 

2. To the successive recommendations of presidents 
Washinajton and Madison, in their messages to Con- 



6 An American University. 

gross, urging " the expediency of establishing a ISTa- 
tional University." 

3. To that remarkable provision in the last will and 
testament of Washington, by which, still mindful of 
the honor of his country and the best good of coming 
generations, he " gave and bequeathed in perpetuity " 
five thousand dollars in the shares of the Potomac 
Company, " towards the endowment of a University to 
be established within the District of Columbia, under 
the auspices of the general government, if that gov- 
ernment should incline to extend a fostering hand 
towards it.'' 

4. To the several propositions to this end, which at 
various dates more recent have been urged by many 
of the most eminent men of the country. 

If these opinions of the framers of the Constitution, 
of the Father of his Country, and of modern statesmen 
do not convince, there is still the authority of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States for the doctrine that, 
" there is nothing in the Constitution of the United 
States, similar to the Articles of Confederation, which 
excludes incidental or implied powers ;" that, " if the 
end is legitimate, and within the scope of the Consti- 
tution, all the means which are appropriate, which are 
plainly adapted to that end, and which are not prohib- 



Second Report of the National Committee. 7 

ited, may constitutionally be employed to carry it into 
effect " — a ground upon whicli many libsral construc- 
tionists have been wont to rest witli great confidence. 

Moreover, the Government has established prece- 
dents which, may be urged with much force as afford- 
ing warrant for the exercise of such authority as is 
proposed. 

The common schools of the country, the state uni- 
versities, the schools of agriculture and the mechanic 
arts, the Smithsonian Institution and the Department 
of Education are honorable proofs of the liberal con- 
struction which has already been put upon the Consti- 
tution in this regard. 

The idea of a National University, then, is as old as 
the nation, has had the fullest sanction of the wisest 
and best men of succeeding generations, and is in per- 
fect harmony with the policy and practice of the Gov- 
ernment. 

Assuming now, that the questions of need on the part 
of the country, and of expediency and power on the 
part of the Government, have been settled in the affirm- 
ative, it remains but to determine the means best cal- 
culated to secure the adoption of the most judicious 
plan for the institution, and to insure the congressional 
and other aid necessary to the full success of the enter- 
prise. 



8 An American University. 

Where the magnitude of an undertaking is so great, 
its importance so vital, and the unanimity of all classes 
and sections so essential, prudence would dictate that 
each step be taken only after careful deliberation. 

On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that the 
best portions of that public domain, to which we must 
look for the means of foimding the University, are rap- 
idly passing into the hands of great corporations for 
various intsiiial improvements, and of private specula- 
tors, who acquire and hold them chieflj'' for their own 
personal aggrandizement ; so that any considerable 
delay on ihe part of the friends of the proposed insti- 
tution may place this most natural and feasible source 
of endowment forever beyond its reach. 

In view of these considerations, your committee have 
resolved to recommend that there be raised a new and 
permanent committee of less numbers than the present 
— say fifteen — yet embracing representatives of the lead- 
ing professions and interests, as well as of the several 
geographical divisions of the country, and including 
the president of this Association, the National Commis- 
sioner of Education and the presidents of the Na- 
tional Academy, the American Scientific Association 
and the American Social Science Association as ex- 
officio members, to be known as the National Universi- 



Second Report of the National Committee. 9 

ty Commiltee, and to be charged with the duty of fur- 
ther conductuig the enterprise to a successful issue^ 
whether by means of conference and correspondence, or 
through the agency of a special convention. 

With a view to the greater efficiency of said commit- 
tee, it should be provided that a quite limited number 
of members thereof should be a quorum for the trans- 
action of business at any regularly called meeting, and 
that a majority shall have power to supply such va- 
cancies as may occur by reason of the declination or 
resignation of any of its members. 

A committee of this character would be able, in the 
first place, to concentrate the best thought of the coun- 
try upon the various important 'questions involved in 
the perfection of a plan for the institution ; and second- 
ly, to marshal the strength of the country in system- 
atic and effective support of the measure, when at last 
formally brought to the attention of Congress. 
(Signed.) John W. Hoyt, Wisconsin, 

Newton Bateman, Illinois, 
B. C. HoBBS, Indiana, 
A. S. KissELL, Iowa. 
P. McViCKAR, Kansas, 
M. A. Newell, Maryland, 
W. F, Phelps, Minnesota, 



10 An American Universittj. 



Daniel Bead, Missouri, 

J. W. BuLKLEY, New York, 

J. P. WiCKERSHAM, Pennsylvania, 

J. M. McKiNSEY, Nebraska, 

A, N. Fisher, Nevada, 

A. J. RlCKOFF, Ohio, 

C. L. P. Bancroft, Tennessee, 
A. D. Williams, West Virginia, 
W. M. RuFFNER, Virginia, 
Z, Richards, District of Columbia. 



Ttie foregoing Report of the Committee was unani^ 
mously adopted, and at the next subsequent session, 
in accordance with the will of the Convention, the 
President announced the permanent National Univer- 
sity Committee, as follows : 

Dr. J. W. Hoyt, Chairman. Madison, Wis. 

Dr. Thomas Hill, Waltham, Mass. , 

E. L. Godkin, Esq., New York Q\iy. 

Hon. J. P. Wickersbam, Harrisburg, Penn. 

Dr. Barnas Sears, Stanton, Va. 

Col. D. F. Boyd, Baton Rouge, La. 

Dr. Daniel Read, Columbia, Mo. 



Second Report of the National Committee. 11 

Prof. "VY. F. Phelps, Winona, Minn. 

Ex-Gov. A. C. Gibbs, Portland, Oregon. 

Hon. Newton Bateman, Springfield, 111. 
Ex-officio Members : 

Hon. E. E, White, President elect National Educa- 
tional Association, Columbus, 0. 

Hon. John Eaton, Jr., Commissioner of Education, 
Washington, R C. 

Dr. Joseph Henry, President National Academy of 
Sciences, Washington, D. 0. 

Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, President American Associ- 
ation for the Advancement of SciencCj Louisville, Ky. 

Dr. Samuel Eliot, President American Social Sci- 
ence Association. 



